Blood of the Snake
by Kat Loussier
Summary: NarutoxHarry Potter When ten shinobi attend Hogwarts, you know things are going to get a little messed up. But throw in a Christmas Ball, practical defense, and dance lessons, and you know things will get chaotic...
1. Chapter 1: Hogwarts and Shinobi

**A/N:** Okay so, after reading several dozen Naruto crossovers, I decided that it was high time that I wrote my own. I'm not sure whether I should've posted this since it's like a sequel or spin-off of sorts for _A Raven's Wings_, and I haven't published that yet, but I decided to do this anyway... don't shoot me...  
The little lines indicate switches between dimensions or cordoning off the chapter from the author's note.  
If one entire part is in italics, then it's a flashback, I've labeled those parts so you can tell.  
**Disclaimer:** I don't Naruto or Harry Potter. Although, I would like to own Neji... but sadly I don't...  
_"Japanese" _"English"

* * *

**Chapter 1: Hogwarts and Shinobi

* * *

**

Everything hurt; Naruto could feel his consciousness slipping away. Before he lost it all, he glanced around at his companions, everyone but himself and Gaara were out cold, they're bodies twirling in time with the white light that had enveloped them. Pain clouded over his vision, and he knew no more...

* * *

Dumbledore was just returning to his office from a walk about the school, when a phenomenal burst of magic caught his attention. Hurriedly, he went back down the stairs and out the doors. As he just took the last step, he saw several forms lying limp on the ground; well from where he stood it looked like they were.

As Dumbledore came closer, he saw that one of them had forced themself to stand. Obviously, he was laboring with the effort, but still, the determination to keep himself standing was admirable.

It was at that point that Dumbledore realized that each of the figures, except the one standing, were cradled in sand, that seemed to extend forward from the standing individual. When he finally looked at Dumbledore, Dumbledore froze.

The boy's eyes were jade, and were almost dead. But he could see concern lingering in those jade eyes.

_"Don't move."_

"I'm sorry but I don't understand what you're saying."

He seemed to hesitate, but then spoke English with a pronounced Asian accent, "Who are you?"

"I was going to ask you that as you just appeared in my school's grounds."

Eyes widened slightly before resuming a cold stare, "There was no school here a few moments ago..."

"It may have something to do with the flare of magic that accompanied your arrival."

"You mean chakra."

Dumbledore's brow furrowed, "I am guessing that is what you call magic?"

"Chakra is necessary to perform jutsu... except taijutsu, but sometimes it is."

The boy, despite his seeming lack of years, gave off the aura of one who had a large responsibility placed on his shoulders at a young age, and wasn't sure if he was doing the right thing.

"I am assuming you are using this 'chakra' to control the sand that is holding your companions?"

He nodded, "That vortex however, drained a large portion of it, I was barely able to do this much... I've reached my limit."

"We should get you and your companions up to the hospital wing where Madame Pomfrey can have a look at them to make sure there is no long term damage. I assure you, they and yourself are perfectly safe, I'll make sure that they're okay."

Hesitant at first, the youth then followed, the sand carrying his companions as the mismatched group trooped up the stairs, towards the hospital wing.

"Can you tell me everything you can remember before you came here?"

"It all started with a mission..."

* * *

(_Flashback_)

_The battle field was gory, two shinobi stood against nine others. A struggling kunoichi was unceremoniously draped over Kisame's shoulder, "We just came for the fuin expert."_

_Sasuke gritted his teeth in anger, Naruto shouted, "Put Maerin-sensei down!"_

_"Our orders were to capture the fuin kunoichi," Itachi's cold voice spoke. "After the disaster of our last attempt at acquiring the Shukaku, our organization has decided that she could be of some use."_

_Finally Sasuke retaliated against his brother, "And once she's lost her usefulness you'll kill her like you killed the others!" His words were edged with anger and hatred; anyone could tell that the youngest Uchiha survivor was on the verge of attacking his older brother._

_Itachi made no response._

_Everyone prepared themselves for the attack._

_Gaara sent waves of sand towards the two Akatsuki ninjas who stood deep in the ancient shrine, Naruto began the Rasengan, while Sasuke prepared the Chidori._

_As Sasuke and Naruto charged at the two renegade shinobi, the others prepped their own attacks and charged as well. Kisame propped Maerin against the nearby statue and the shinobi prepared for the onslaught._

_The circle beneath the now charging ninja, and closing Gaara, began glowing the moment they stepped on it. Maerin, whose foot was on the circle, suddenly was jerked into the group along with the rest of the group, and they disappeared in a flash of brilliant white light_

(_End Flashback_)

* * *

He finished his explanation, and Dumbledore regarded him calmly, "I think that sending you back to your dimension would take some time. In the mean time, would you and your companions consider attending Hogwarts until a means can be found?"

"First, I'd like to know your name."

"Ah, yes. I am Professor Dumbledore; I am the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and you?"

"Sabaku no Gaara."

* * *

Whew, my eyes hurt now… I spent too much time on the computer typing this, and I'm not sure if it's exactly very long.

Excuse the OC, but I really needed her to help with some plot and character development things in _A Raven's Wings_ and also in this story as well. I promise that she won't dominate the story; she's more in there for the plot then for me and my crazy-ness.

Please click that little button that says review? It would be much appreciated!


	2. Chapter 2: Contemplating the Arrival

**A/N:** Last chapter didn't turn out o be as long as I wanted it to be, but oh well. I can't have my way all the time, or else writing would be completely a waste of time… and that circle from the previous chapter, think along the lines of the human transmutation circle that Ed and Al used in Fullmetal Alchemist.

I am so not looking forward to writing Hagrid's accent… oh the agony of writing accents…

**Disclaimer:** I don't Naruto or Harry Potter. Although, I would like to own Neji... but sadly I don't...

"_Japanese"_ "English"

* * *

**Chapter 2: Contemplating the Arrival

* * *

**

After making sure that the newest enrolled students at Hogwarts were comfortable in the hospital wing, Dumbledore went back into the grounds to find Hagrid.

Spotting him coming out from the Forbidden Forest, "Hagrid!"

"Oh, it's yer Professor Dumbledore."

"Yes Hagrid, we have some new students starting this year, and I would like you to take them to Diagon Alley to get their supplies."

"Alrigh'."

"Thank you Hagrid."

Once that was done, Dumbledore returned to his office and sat down at his desk. He began mulling over the information that the one called Gaara had given him.

A circle.

A flash of white light.

It didn't seem to make much sense, even to Dumbledore's mind. This could be very old magic they were talking about, the place the circle was located in could be critical to how these shinobi had arrived here.

Nothing fitted into place, and Dumbledore knew that this topic could take months of extensive research, time he felt he couldn't spend on with Voldemort's return to power.

The students were at risk, particularly Harry.

If this organization called Akatsuki managed to open the portal and arrive here in their dimension, there was the chance that they'd join Voldemort if their interests intertwined.

Dumbledore didn't know the half of what these shinobi faced.

During his conversation with Gaara, Dumbledore had gleaned a little useful information, the two eldest, were both high-ranking elite shinobi from their village, and he was the leader of his own, the kazekage.

The older two shinobi would be difficult to place, as Dumbledore estimated them to be in their twenties, much too old to enter Hogwarts. This fact alone gave him a whole other predicament to deal with along with finding a way to send them home.

Slughorn arrived and knocked on the door, Dumbledore responded, "Enter."

Striding into the office, Slughorn sat down in one of the chairs in front of Dumbledore's desk.

"Horace, do you know of any way to open a dimensional portal to another world?"

"Well, there probably is, I just don't know about it," Slughorn replied with. "This is about those new students?"

"Yes," Dumbledore responded. "They are all ninja from another dimension, while eight of them will attend Hogwarts, the other two are too old, and I need to find them something to do while we try and a way to send them back."

Silence reigned for a while, until Dumbledore came up with an idea, "I think I know what they could do…"

His eyes felt like thousand pound weights had been placed on them as Sasuke struggled for consciousness. Finally, he managed to open his eyes and sit up. His muscles ached, and he felt as though a thousand kunai had been stabbed into every part of his body.

"_Hey, you're finally up,"_ Naruto's voice greeted his ears. _"Now we just have to wait for Sakura and Shikamaru."_

Sasuke cast his eyes about, and found his Sakura. Her breathing was heavy, signifying her unconscious state, but she looked otherwise unharmed, Sasuke heaved a sigh of relief.

"_Where are we?"_ Sasuke asked.

Neji responded, _"Some place called Hogwarts. We've been enrolled as students here until some way is found to send us back."_

"_More learning and we have to use a weird stick thing to use jutsu!"_" Naruto told him._ "The uniforms here are dresses and I am so not wearing a dress!"_

Naruto's last comment was met with all around agreement, Sasuke merely grunted.

"_Dumbledore-sama said that if we didn't want to wear the Hogwarts uniform, we'd be allowed to wear the Japanese Imperial Institute of Mana's uniform. He showed us a picture, and it's much better then their dresses,"_ Neji informed him, he handed him the picture.

Sasuke nodded his head, the uniform was much better then wearing a dress. After a few minutes of silence, Sakura and Shikamaru finally joined the land of the living.

It took a while, but the others quickly briefed them on what had happened and what was going to happen.

Sakura seemed to have noticed that two people weren't there, _"Where are Kakashi-sensei and Maerin-sensei?"_

Gaara responded to this,_ "Dumbledore-sama took them to his office to speak to them about their arrangements about staying here. They're too old to attend the school."_

"_So what are they going to do?"_ Sakura asked.

Shikamaru answered this time, _"Maerin-sensei was training before the mission. She was doing some research on fuin jutsu, or on the curse marks."_

There was silence for a few minutes, then Sakura spoke.

"_She's amazing at them already, why is she doing more research?"_

"_According to her,"_ Sasuke began. _"Just as seals can be removed or undone, the same things should be possible with the curse mark. The curse mark, Maerin says, is very similar to fuin jutsu, so there has to be some technique to remove it. Despite the enormous boost to chakra it gives, the downsides are immense, and not really worth it. The chances of one surviving the reception of it are slim."_

Again, silence fell, then a tall man entered the room, "Alrigh' now yer all must be the new students I'm Hagrid. I'll be taking you to Diagon Alley."

"What's a Dagon Alley?" Naruto asked.

"Diagon Alley."

"Yeah, that."

* * *

(sigh) Well, four pages, that's longer then the last chapter was… and I thank my first two reviewers, random reader, Dragonheart0000 and Miss Anonymous hp.

Miss Anonymous hp, you asked how the characters could speak English. Well, in almost all of the Naruto Harry Potter crossovers I've read have had them have to have language charms performed on them, and I thought, since they're shinobi, maybe they know English already because it was a skill they were required to learn. Meh, I'm just guessing, and that's what I think.


	3. Chapter 3: The Alley

**A/N:** I feel really pathetic... I had part of this chapter all done and typed up, then the bell rang (I was writing during a period at school), and I aciddently hit the close button... WITHOUT SAVING. Curses! Technology really must hate me, or does it hate everyone? Personally, I think technology is evil and that we really are screwed over for relying on it so much. Anyways...

Oh! I almost forgot. I suck at writing accents, like Hagrid's, and I make no excuse for that. What really sucks about my inability to write accents like that is it gives me problems for writing my Final Fantasy VII fanfic... I haven't played the original game in several years, and only found out recently that my step-dad sold it, so now I'm hunting for a new copy. Also, I CAN'T REMEMBER IF BARRET HAD AN ACCENT OR NOT! CID TOO! Gah! Anyone able to help? I could really use it... Eh, I'm probably looking in the wrong section aren't I?

_"Japanese"_

"English"

**Disclaimer**: Alright, I do NOT own any Naruto or Harry Potter characters. I did NOT make any profit off of this story, other then reivews, which are nice. And if I did own them, then I wouldn't be writing this here, now would I? I do own Maerin, oh, and the first two volumes of the Naruto dub, which I think is really terrible...

* * *

**Chapter 3: The Alley**

Once the group had assembled in the staff room, to use the fireplace to get to this 'Diagon Alley' that Hagrid had rambled on about for the entire duration of their journey through the castle to get there, Hagrid finally explained why they were using the fireplace, he was just finishing up his explanation.

"... an' then ya' just say yer destination loud an' clear."

Naruto raised his hand, but blurted out his request anyway, "Could you repeat that please?"

Everyone, except Hagrid, sighed heavily. Typical Naruto behaviour.

"Alrigh' who wants to go first? An example should show ya."

When no volunteered, Hagrid 'volunteered' someone in his manner, "Alrigh' you." His guinea pig of choice? Gaara.

Stepping forward, Gaara took a pinch of the green powder, stepped into the fireplace, threw it down, saying levelly, "Diagon Alley." There was a flash of emerald green flames, and he was gone.

For a moment, everyone stared, then Naruto said rather loudly, "I wanna go next!"

* * *

Harry was dreading going to Diagon Alley. It meant shopping, and he hated shopping. Groaning he felt himself following the others down into the living room to reach Diagon Alley via Floo Powder. He'd been depressed since he'd reached The Burrow, and it seemed everyone else assumed it was over Sirius' death. 

He'd been acting like this entire summer, and his friends noted that he really hadn't been very enthusiastic when it came to responding to their letters. Ron had pointed out to Hermione, in whispered conversation when they thought he couldn't hear, that he had thought the Dursley's had been abusing him or something because Harry's letters had been short and hurried. In truth, Harry just really didn't feel like talking to anyone about how he was feeling, he felt that it was something he had to do and deal with on his own. It was his fault that Sirius was dead, and nothing anyone told him would change his mind.

Arriving in the dingy main room of the Leaky Cauldron, for once, Harry was grateful for the subdued and depressing atmosphere of the place, it meant that he didn't have to be angry at one more thing.

* * *

The rather amusing, for some, trip through the caverns under Gringott's had made the shinobi decide to split up so that they could cover more ground and learn the layout of the area known as Diagon Alley better. 

At first, Hagrid had protested that they shouldn't be wandering around alone during these dangerous times, but the shinobi considered this a mission, and ignored him, agreeing to meet in front of the wand shop when they were finished all of their shopping.

The groups were, Naruto and Hinata, Shikamaru and Temari, Gaara and Neji, and Sakura with Sasuke.

Eight shinobi watched with amusement as Sakura practically dragged Sasuke down the street towards Flourish and Blotts. The atmosphere of the place seemed to lighten, if only a little, at the comedic sight of a serious and cold Sasuke being dragged down the street by an over-excited Sakura.

Hinata and Naruto headed for the Apothecary.

_"Hey Hinata."_

_"Yes Naruto?"_

_"Why does everyone seem so fearful? It's just like the time immediatly after Orochimaru tried to invade and destroy Konoha."_

_"I don't know Naruto, but I'm sure that we'll find out in due time."_

The pair entered the shop, with Naruto immediatly covering his nose, while saying, _"Dammit! Why does it stink in here? Doesn't anybody clean this dump up?"_

Hinata giggled at his outburst, but quickly agreed that the store had a very disgusting odour, perhaps owing to the various ingriediants spread about throughout the shop. They hurriedly made their purchases before bursting out into the streets, with Naruto thanking kami-sama that he hadn't died from the terrible stench of the Apothecary.

In Flourish and Blotts, Sasuke had discovered probably the most interesting section yet. He was busy browsing the shelves of a section titled, _'Defense Against the Dark Arts'_, and had found a number of interesting titles, several of which he pulled from the shelves and balanced under his arm to look at closely when he had finished.

He was examining the title of a very interesting looking book, when a large group entered the store. He didn't really look up, the tomes were much more interesting then a bunch of wizards, especially the ones he'd seen so far. Just as he reached to pull down the tome he'd been examining, a group of people rounded the corner, and swarmed into the section.

Promptly ignoring them, Sasuke wondered whether or not he had enough to actually purchase all of the books he'd pulled from the shelves, but quickly shoved that thought to the back of his head.

"Excuse me," a young female voice asked from his side.

He turned his head slightly, the girl was younger then him, or perhaps his own age, he couldn't tell, and she had a shock of long, glossy, brilliant red hair.

Seeing that she had his attention, she smiled, "Do you work here?"

"No," his tone remained even, although a little irritation showed.

Another three teens approached, one with the same shock of red hair as the girl, only male, a bushy haired girl, and a boy with messy black hair, and bright emerald green eyes that had a similiar look to them that Sasuke himself sometimes had.

"Ginny? What are you doing?" the male red-head asked.

The one named Ginny turned to him, obviously they were brother and sister, and answered, "I was just seeing if he worked here Ron. He doesn't."

"Of course not! He's not old enough to work! He's probably around our own age," Ron told his sister off.

Sasuke returned to the shelf, and was just resuming his browsing, when the bushy haired girl interupted him, "Do you attend Hogwarts?"

"Hn."

"I'm sorry, what was that?"

"Yes." The tone this time was a very much so irritated. Turning on his heel, he brushed past them, hissing a warning only the messy haired boy could hear, "You'd best get rid of that look in your eyes."

* * *

Harry stared at the back of the retreating boy. His indifference to them had made him seem arrogant, and had reminded Harry strongly of Draco Malfoy, but the hissed warning told him something else. Harry thought about it, and suddenly felt a flash of anger at the teen. Who was he to say something like that to him? He didn't have any idea what had happened to him, or what he was going through. 

Ginny was oggling the stranger's back, out of the blue she spoke, "He's really good looking."

"Oi, I thought you liked Harry!" Ron snapped.

Ginny hurumphed, Hermione added to the conversation, "I've never seen him at Hogwarts before, and I'm positive that he should be in our year. What do you guys think?"

"I don't know..." Ron pondered. "I think he's really good Slytherin material; did you notice how cold he was? And his tone was so irritated when he answered your question Hermione."

"Just because of that doesn't make him Slytherin material!" Hermione snapped back.

There was a chime at the doors, signifying someone had either entered or exited, judging by the lack of the spiky-haired boy that they had encountered, they guessed he had left, the pink-haired teen they had seen upon their enterance to the shop had also disappeared, meaning she had also left.

"Something's going on here, and I'm not sure that I'm going to like it," Harry muttered under his breath, no one else heard him.

* * *

Shikamaru wasn't quite sure how he'd been talked into going with Temari. But somehow he had, but he wasn't going to complain all that much about it, it was either going with her or Gaara or Neji, and personally, he felt much better going with her. 

They'd just exited the quill and parchment store, and were now headed for Flourish and Blotts. He could see Sasuke and Sakura just leaving.

_"Honestly Sasuke, did you have to buy all those books? You might not have enough to buy the rest of your supplies!"_

The younger Uchiha sighed, _"I figured that we might need a bit of an edge over Akatsuki. It doesn't hurt to know; we might need it."_

It was a little unnerving to know that Sasuke didn't really hold proper conversations outside of Team Seven, although he normally argued with Naruto, which could be considered 'conversations' to some extent. Other then Sakura, Shikamaru had never really seen him really talk with anyone else. One thing he knew for sure, hurt Sasuke's Sakura, and you were just signing your own death warrent.

_"Hello Shikamaru, Temari."_

_"Hi Sakura."_

_"Sakura, Sasuke._

_"Temari, Shikamaru."_

The groups passed each other after the greeting, with Sasuke and Sakura going into the Apothocary, while himself and Temari continued into Flourish and Blotts. There was a large group of people in there, but they managed to get all their books for the subject, paid and left.

* * *

Why was he the one stuck with Gaara? 

It hadn't made sense to Hyuuga genius why he was the one who was stuck with the Kazekage. Although Gaara was no longer the homicidal maniac he had once been, Neji found him to be a little creepy at times. Naruto's influence had definitely saved them both, and both owed him a large debt.

Already they had gotten everything except their books, which was where they were heading now. Neji had just seen Sasuke enter the Apothecary after Sakura, so he assumed they had already completed getting their books. Entering the store, he just saw Temari and Shikamaru pay and leave, leaving him and Gaara in the shop with a large group of people.

Neji would have considered them to be all one family, which they probably were, but two weren't. One was a bushy haired girl and a black messy haired boy, both were around his age.

He couldn't help but wonder in accepting attending Hogwarts, what they had gotten themselves into.

* * *

Harry felt eyes on him, so he turned and spotted the person who was looking at him. The teen's eyes were a lavender shade, so pale it might have counted as white, and no pupils whatsoever. His dark brown hair was pulled back into a low ponytail, and there was a strange headband with a metal plate on it with a strange symbol that. The moment Harry looked at him however, the teen looked away and immediatly was in a different section, his companion however, came over to where they were standing, and pulled down the required curriculem for sixth years in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Harry immediatly noticed that he had no eyebrows. 

When he noticed that they were all staring at him, he gave them a small smile before heading over to where his companion stood, they conversed for a while, before they headed to pay, with a stack of books each, paid and left.

"There goes another two," Ron commented as they also left. "I've never seen them around, and sense they had the sixth year curriculem as well, they're in our year."

"It's strange," Hermione commented. "I mean, not knowing who they are, and they're probably in our year."

"Let's hope they don't turn out to be as disasterous as Umbridge."

"I highly doubt they're there to teach Ron."

* * *

It had taken the better part of the day for the shinobi to get all of their supplies and meet up at the wand shop. Hagrid was there, and the eight of them crammed into the small, cramped room. An elderly man, who they assumed to be Ollivander came out, and greeted them.

"Now, which of you would like to go first?"

Everyone exchanged glances, then, "Oh! Oh! Pick me!"

One guess at who that was.

Naruto stepped forward, and Ollivander sent a tape measure to measure him, while he pulled boxes down from the various shelves. He took the tape measure and placed it on the table, he held out a wand to Naruto, who took it.

"There, now wave it."

Naruto brought it down in a slashing motion, nothing happened, "Hey! Nothing happened!" Ollivander took the wand and gave him another. Naruto waved it, this time sending a burst of chakra into it, unfortuantly, he'd sent too much, and the wand exploded.

Ollivander stared in obvious sorrow as the fragments of one of his precious wands fell to the ground. He handed the shinobi another, and this time, it didn't explode, red sparks flew out of the tip, "That's your wand, who's next?"

About an hour later, with various results, the shinobi, except Sasuke, had their wands. The results had varied from an earthquake, to shattering all the windows, to setting Ollivander's robes on fire, and causing it to rain sand.

Ollivander handed Sasuke a wand, and he immediatly channeled his chakra into it, and it also exploded, much like Naruto's had. Ollivander handed him another, this one had black sparks fly out of the tip.

"How much?" Sakura asked.

"Seventeen galleons and ten sickles."

The shinobi coughed up the cash and departed, meeting Hagrid outside.

"Got everythin'?"

They nodded.

"Good, bes' get back then."

The shinobi and the half-giant left the alley, and headed back for the Leaky Cauldron.

* * *

I feel so proud of myself! This chapter was over two thousand words! My longest yet! Whoohoo! Happy dance! Anyways, I'm sorry I haven't updated this story for a while, and I'll get around to updating the others too. I just found out this story's been included in a C2! Yay! My first, and only so far, fanfic is in a C2! Thank you whoever put it there! You get a cookie! (sends Yuan with cookies to whoever did that's house)

Now, all you people who reviewed... I would like to thank and send cookies to:

random reader  
Miss Anonymous HP  
Draonheart0000  
CuriousDreamWeaver  
DeadRatSam  
shuji  
RyuKaiser3  
WriterApprentice

If you want a special mention and cookies, then review the story! I worked hard, and it's 3 AM in the morning! SO DAMMIT I DESERVE A REVIEW FOR TYPING, FINISH, **AND** PUBLISHING THIS! SO REVIEW ALL YOU PEOPLE WHO READ THIS STORY! IT MAKES ME UPDATE FASTER! EVEN IF IT'S A SHORT ONE! FLAMES WILL BE GIVEN TO THE EVIL GREMLIN WHO LIVES IN MY CLOSET!

Thanks you dedicated readers! Now review!

Katalyn


	4. Chapter 4: The Train Ride

**A/N:** Wow, thanks you guys for all the reviews, you really made my dayd brighter. My updates might get a little more chaotic and spaced out because I'm moving into my dad's house, and I need to get all my stuff organized and put away, then set everything up again after we paint my new room here. I like it, it's really spacious and I get my own computer! Yay!

Anyways, WriterApprentice, thanks for your review. I'd like to clear up a little matter you mentioned. You said that Sasuke was heartless because he told Harry to get rid of the look in his eyes. I know that probably didn't seem the nicest thing to say to someone, but it'll all be cleared up later in the story, just hang on and around for it. And also, White Raven6, somehow everyone managed to convince Gaara to leave his gourd behind, I was just to lazy to type that... and no, there will not be an Neji x Gaara romance in this story. I'm sorry, but it's just not a pairing I support, so I'm afraid I can't write it. I do not mean to offend anyone.

**Disclaimer:** Why do I have to type this again! I don't own anything! I don't own any of the Naruto characters or Harry Potter characters! I only own Maerin, and the plot of this story, wherever it may go! So don't think I own anything! Please don't sue me either!

* * *

**Chapter 4: The Train Ride**

Dumbledore hadn't wanted to arise suspicion as to why the shinobi hadn't been on the Hogwarts Express, so he told them that they'd be riding on it's journey to London to pick up the rest of the student population and then ride it back with them to be sorted into their houses at the Sorting Ceremony.

Maerin had come to see them off, _"Don't cause any trouble and behave yourselves."_ She cast a knowing glance at Naruto and Sasuke,_ "That means no fighting on the train. We don't want you to blow our cover so soon."_

_"Why are you picking on me and Sasuke!"_ Naruto interjected.

_"Because it's always you two who rush into things without thinking things through first!"_ Maerin told him knowingly._ "Kakashi and I won't be there, so I'm trusting you guys to be responsible. Try to blend in."_

After various forms of asentment, Maerin herded them onto the train and bid them farewell, once again telling them to behave themselves and watch out for suspicious activity and report it to her or Kakashi when they returned.

The train pulled away from the Hogsmeade station, and the shinobi were on their way to London once again.

* * *

It was the last day of summer holidays, and things at The Burrow were more chaotic then ever. Everyone was trying to get everything in order so they would make it out of the house at the right time the next day. Harry had everything packed up and was sitting on the bed that he'd been using since arriving at The Burrow. He'd been staying in Fred and George's old room, they no longer lived here as they were now living in the rooms above their shop at Diagon Alley. 

Harry was still quite angry at the stranger who had told him to lose the look in his eyes. What did he know about him? Despite the anger he felt towards the boy, he was also quite pensive about the remark. Maybe he was a little to set in his sorrow, but what right did a complete stranger have to tell him that he needed to move on?

There was a knock at the door, Hermione's voice floated in, "Harry? Dinner's ready."

"I'll be right down."

Proceeding downstairs, Harry found everyone had gathered for a little bit of party, and they were all sitting around the table waiting for him. He took a seat between Hermione and Ron.

Mrs. Weasly had outdone herself, all of Harry's favorites were included, and he helped himself to seconds. For the first time in a very long time, he felt the tinge of happiness inside himself, and this time, he didn't try to squash it.

Once everyone had eaten, and the table was cleaned off, conversation turned to the new school year.

Mr. Weasly was saying, "I heard Albus saying that there's a new course starting this year."

Immediatly, Hermione was on him about it, "Really? What course is it?"

Scratching his chin in thought, Mr. Weasly gave a hesitant reply, "He didn't go into the details about it, but I believe he said that it was practical defense."

"Practical defense?" Harry asked. "You mean like hand-to-hand combat?"

"Or is it practical Defense Against the Dark Arts?" Hermione questioned. "After last year, do you think the Ministry would assign another person like Umbridge? Is he holding a class that's about the practical application of Defense Against the Dark Arts?"

"No, I think Harry's guess was closest," Mr. Weasly replied.

"Who's teaching it?" Ron asked.

"He mentioned foreigners, but that's it."

Shortly after, before any further discussion about the subject could happen, Mrs. Weasly sent them all up to bed. Harry felt more light hearted then he had all summer, he wasn't sure whether or not that was insult to Sirius' memory, but he thought that maybe he'd been depressed enough and maybe it was time to move on with his life.

He fell into bed, and enjoyed a blissful sleep with no dreams.

* * *

"C'mon Harry, we're going! Mom's ranting about how we're going to be late if we don't go," Ron prodded him awake. 

Harry snatched his glasses off the nightstand and put them, climbed out of bed and changed. Once they had all eaten, they loaded themselves and their trunks into the Ministry cars that had been sent to take them to King's Cross to catch the Hogwarts Express.

Ginny was all giggles, and was rambling on to Hermione about the boy they had encountered in Diagon Alley and wondering what house he was in, Ron spent the majority of the trip glaring disdainfully at her.

They clambered out of the cars, and the drivers found them carts for the trunks when they arrived. They wheeled them into the station towards the barrier, they hung casually around it, slipping through when no one was looking and onto Platform 9 3/4.

Mrs. Weasly gave them each a hug and a kiss, telling them to be careful and write whenever they could, she gave Harry an extra hug and told him how proud she was of him, then shooed them all onto the train, they waved goodbye until the station was out of site as the Hogwarts Express turned a corner and the station disappeared from view.

"Well let's find a compartment," Harry said.

"Sorry Harry, but me and Hermione have to go to the Perfects compartment at the head of the train," Ron told him.

"I promised my friends I'd sit with them," Ginny told him. Harry watched them depart before lugging his trunk down the train to find an empty compartment. People would stick their heads out to get a look at him before ducking back into their compartments to tell their friends, the only person who didn't was Cho, who the moment she saw him, ducked into her compartment and immediatly engaged in conversation with her friend Marietta, who wore a thick layer of make-up to conceal her zits that Harry remembered from last year.

Continuing down the train, he encountered Neville Longbottom.

"Hello Harry," he greeted him.

"Hi Neville," Harry squeezed around him finding a compartment that only had two people in it, one he recognized as the boy who had given him the advice in Diagon Alley. "There's a compartment here. Come on Neville."

Harry slid the door open, the pink-haired girl looked up at him, Harry voiced his request, "May we join you?" She nodded, and Harry and Neville stored their trunks in the racks before taking seats across from them.

The boy glanced up at them as they sat down over the book he was reading, his eyes returned just as quickly to the page. Obviously, the female was eager to start a conversation as she introduced herself, "Hello, my name's Sakura Haruno, what's yours?"

"Neville Longbottom," came Neville's shy reply, Sakura smiled at him.

"It's very nice to meet you. And you?"

"Harry Potter."

"It's great to meet you two," she turned and poked the silent boy in the shoulder, hissing at him, "Now it's your turn."

"... Sasuke Uchiha."

Sakura turned back to them, "Don't let his facade fool you, Sasuke's actually a really nice guy, once you get to know him. I'm really looking forward to getting to Hogwarts! I can't wait to start classes!"

Harry was reminded of Hermione, obviously she and Sakura would get on nicely together, "Do you know what house your going to be in?"

"No, we're exchange students. We're going to be sorted at the feast tonight," Sakura explained. "We transfered here from the Japanese Imperial Institute of Mana."

Sasuke stayed quiet, and the only sounds originating from his corner was the dry sound of him turning the page of the book. Harry could only read part of the binding, but the part of the title that he could see led him to believe that the book was on Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"Are you interested in DADA?" Harry asked him.

Elbowing him, Sakura was glaring at Sasuke, who looked at her, then answered, "I have an interest in it."

The compartment door slid open, standing in the doorway was a blonde haired boy with bright blue eyes, "Sasuke! Can I borrow that book again?"

Sasuke sighed, and reached beside him to pull out the red leather bound tome and handed it to him, "Fine. What do you need it for?"

The boy took it, a little bit of an evil smirk played across his face, "Oh... no reason in particular... heh, heh, heh..." He left the compartment for the open one across the hall, Harry heard someone call out, "Ack! I didn't mean it! Really I didn't!"

Another voice, "This is troublesome..."

"Gack! Nooo!" Loud thumps ensued, Sakura shut the door and sat back down next to Sasuke, "Nothing out of the ordinary. Naruto's hitting Neji over the head with the book you gave him."

"Hn."

"How is beating someone over the head with a book normal?" Neville asked as he examined his plant.

Harry found Sakura to be intelligent and a compelling conversationist, it was later that afternoon when Hermione and Ron finally turned up in their compartment. Ron promptly flopped into the seat nearest the door, while Hermione sat down across from him beside Sakura.

"Malfoy didn't turn up at all," Ron was saying. "We saw him on our way here after -"

"Well if it isn't the Potty, the Weasel, and the Mudblood," came the snide voice of Malfoy from the compartment door. Behind him stood Crabbe and Goyle. Sakura looked up at him and narrowed her eyes in confusion, and an almost angry look came into her eyes. Sasuke just looked up, then returned to his book.

Malfoy spotted Sasuke and Sakura, "Oh look, looks like there's a few new Mudblood additions this year." He cast a contemptious glance at them, "Let's see... we've got an Emo-boy and Foredhead Girl!" He laughed at his little joke. "Weasel, they're probably poorer then you! Ha ha! Did your mother lose some weight? I heard your father got promoted, what was he promoted to? Head of the Muggle Lovers Society?"

Ron was on his feet and about to punch Malfoy's lights out, but Harry restrained him and Grabbe and Goyle cracked their knuckles behind Malfoy threatingly.

Malfoy looked at Sakura, the uniform she was wearing was black, with slits to about midway up her thighs, black boots encased her legs to just below he knees, he sneered, "Make that a Forehead Slut. How many men did you have to sleep with to get here? Huh whore?"

Sakura turned bright red, and Harry could see the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes. No one saw Sasuke move, and punch Malfoy hard in the gut.

Malfoy keeled foward at the impact, opened his mouth and let out a groan at the pain. When Sasuke pulled away, and his fist withdrew from its impact point in his stomach, Malfoy collapsed to the ground, holding his gut. Sasuke towered over him, his tone low and threating, "Don't you ever refer to Sakura like that. If I hear that you've ever said anything disrepectful about her, this punch will seem like heaven compared to what I'll do to you then."

The little scuffle had attracted the attention of the people in the compartment across from them, the blonde kid had rejoined them, and apparently had heard what Sasuke had said to Malfoy. He grabbed Malfoy's collar, and hauled him to his feet, "What did you say to Sakura?"

"Naruto..." Sakura murmured. Naruto looked over at her, then back to Malfoy.

"Since this is a first, I'll let you go with a warning this time, but next time..." he dropped Malfoy to the floor and nudged him hard with his foot. The glare he gave Malfoy a look that could have killed.

Malfoy scuttled out of the room with Crabbe and Goyle on his heels, Ron and Harry cast admiring looks at Sasuke and Naruto. Hermione, however, seemed less then pleased, "What were you thinking! You could be punished for that!"

"You're forgetting that the school year hasn't even started yet," Ron said. "The teachers have no reign over what happens to us when we're on the train. They can't punish them for something that happened on the train."

Sasuke had gone over to comfort Sakura. She was resting her head on his shoulder, crying quietly into the crook of his neck, he was holding her to him so she rested in his lap, and was slightly rocking back and forth as one would rock a baby.

For a few moments, the Hogwarts trio, plus Neville, allowed the young couple some quiet time so Sakura could get a grip on her tears, Naruto stood in the doorway, watching the scene with a masked expression on his face.

Ron broke the silence once Sakura had laid her head on Sasuke's chest and he had his chin resting on top of her head, "Don't listen to Malfoy. He does that to everyone who's not in Slytherin."

"Slytherin?"

"One of the Hogwarts houses..." the trio began an explanation of the houses. Once Hermione finished it up, Sasuke voiced a question.

"Do these houses have emblems?"

"Yes. Hufflepuff is a badger, Ravenclaw is a raven, Gryffindor is a lion, and Slytherin is a snake," Hermione explained. Harry noticed that Sasuke gave an almost unnoticeable twitch at the mention of snakes.

None of the others, excluding Sakura and Harry, noticed this. And conversation continued on as usual, with Sasuke remaining silent for the better part of the ride. The trio and Neville left briefly to change before returning to the compartment; Sasuke was having an almost one-sided conversation with another boy around their age.

His hair was very long and was a dark brown, they couldn't see his face because he was turned with his back to them. Sasuke frowned, at least Harry thought he did, he couldn't really tell because Sasuke always seemed to be frowning or scowling.

"... amount of it. The Byakugen picked it up; it was about five miles-"

"Hmm?" Hermione spoke as she entered. "What was that you were saying?"

The boy turned, his eyes closed, and left the compartment. A few moments later, they had arrived on the Hogsmeade platform.

* * *

I know the ending was a little rushed, but I was tired while writing this so... yeah... and I guess I might just set some goals for myself. I won't update this story until I get... how about twelve more reviews? Sound reasonable? Come on be nice! I worked hard on this story! Right Ishida? 

Ishida: Why are you dragging me into this?

Kat: Because you're here!

Ishida: Why me?

Kat: Review or face the pain of my wooden sword! (waves it like a maniac) Now review! Neji thank the reviewers so I can send cookies to them all! And for those 22 of you who put this story on your alert list; I'll have Neji drop by with your favorite characters plushie! Unfortuantly, you have to send him back because he's my main muse!

Neji: Uhh... Okay, Kat would like to thank the following people for their reviews and will be recieving some cookies:  
WriterApprentice  
Limit  
Hao is hot  
KuramaKitsuneRyu  
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MadnessLover  
shuji  
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The Eternal Fire Rose  
DeadRatSam  
Kat would also like to thank the following people for putting this story on their favs and recieving complementary cookies in a collectable tin:  
Ayumi1924  
Dragonheart0000  
I SEE TALL PEOPLE  
WhiteRaven6  
WriterApprentice  
gs rocks  
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And she would like to thank these people for putting this story on their alerts who I will be delivering plushies to of your choice:  
Amaya no Hime  
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Kat: Oh wow... that's a lot of of people! Am I really that popular? Wow... thank you everyone! Hugs for all!

Ishida: Are you going to make me bake all the cookies?

Kat: Well who else? (shrugs) Neji is terrible at baking; and you're not! So go and start baking!

Ishida: (disappears into kitchen)

Kat: Well... I guess that's it. (finger on chin in Grune pose) Let's see... yep! That's everything! Bye you guys! Until next chapter!


	5. Chapter 5: Sorting and Professors

**A/N:** God... no I didn't die. Sorry about how late this is... I should have had it out a LONG time ago. I was busy; moving in, redecorating, school... sorry. ANYWAYS! I am getting into CSI: Miami (getting into? Obsessed is more like it...), so expect stories in that genre if you're into it. But anyways, here's chapter five.

BTW: I gave Gaara and Temari a last name. Rather, the teachers did so that's why... don't bug about how late this chapter was... I know it's late, I should've had it out a while ago, but my computer decided to be a retard on me... Oh! And I wanna dedicate this chapter to my beta, Dragonwings114, who is amazing! Thank you so much!

_Hat talking in someone's head._

THANK YOU ALL FOR GIVING THIS STORY SUCH A HIGH REVIEW COUNT!! I LOVE YOU ALL!!

**Disclaimer:** Let me check... hmm... I don't own Naruto, or Harry Potter. I only own Maerin... and the plot. That's it! Okay? THAT'S IT!

* * *

**Chapter 5: Sorting and Professors**

The sky was clear, and the stars could be seen sparkling above them. The shinobi hardly noticed them, Dumbledore had given them orders to follow the older students and take the carriages to the school where McGonagall would recieve them to be sorted.

Somehow, they all were in the same configuration for the carriage trip to the hospital. Each casting a suspicious glance at the strange horses that were pulling the carriages before climbing in. Sasuke took a seat by the window, with Sakura by his side.

Neville nervously glanced at them, obviously he was unnerved by Sasuke's rather... cold manner, but Sakura had assured them he was friendly, so they'd have to take his word for it. Although... they were doubting it heavily.

_It's so dreary..._ Sakura thought. The clouds were heavy in the sky, and it looked as if it might rain at any moment. She sighed. Weather like this... it always brought her down.

Sasuke squeezed her hand reassuringly, his eyes never left the scenery, and his face never shifted from its blank slate. She squeezed back, smiling softly.

Sure, the only people here that Sasuke felt comfortable around were her and Naruto; although Naruto and he argued and fought often, she knew that they thought highly of each other and regarded each other (secretly on Sasuke's part) as brothers.

After the briefing from the students who they were sharing the carriage with on the houses, Sakura was wondering which house each of them would be in. Of course, for the sake of the mission, she knew that it would be perfect if they had someone in each house, but she hoped against that. Apparently, those in Gryffindor and Slytherin got on terribly and could possibly strain their ties.

Finally, the carriage pulled up in front of the school. Regrouping with their fellow shinobi, they headed inside. As soon as they got inside, a water balloon dropped on a first year to their right.

Looking up, they spotted the source of the disturbance. A ghost was floating above them, he was holding a basket full of water ballons. He gave them a loopy grin, "Wee little firsties we have here!" he cackled. Then spotted the shinobi, "Oh, these be to old to be firsties!" He flew over, hovering upside down above them.

Sasuke glared up at him, as did Neji and Gaara. Obviously the poltergeist was unaffected, as he lobbed one of his projectiles at Sakura. Jumping out of the way, she nearly careened into Professor McGonagall.

"Miss Haruno please do watch where you step!" she admonished, before turning on the ghost. "Peeves!"

Cackling, Peeves dumped his entire caseload of ballons over a knot of first years before zipping off up the grand staircase.

Watching him go, the shinobi relaxed before turning their undivided attention to McGonagall.

"Follow me please," she commanded. "You will all line up single file. Would the transfers please stand in the back. Thank you, now follow me."

Leading the line, she lead them into the Great Hall.

Immediatly upon entering, Sasuke, Neji, and Hinata checked the area out with their respective kekkei genkai. Making note of any abnormalites.

Neji noted that one of the students at the table on the far right had an unusual chakra point on his upper arm. Stowing the information in the back of his mind, he continued his examination.

Another student had an abnormal point on his forehead. There were one or two others, but that was it.

"When I call out your name you will come forward and sit on this stool," McGonagall indicated the stool beside her that had a very ratty looking hat on it. "I will then place the Sorting Hat on your head; when your house is called, proceed to that table."

She pulled out a long roll of parchment and began to read off of it.

"Aberman, Kylie."

After, "Zelain, Michael" was sorted into Hufflepuff, Dumbledore stood up, "As many of you have noticed, we have several new students joining us this year. These students have come all the way from the Japanese Imperial Institute of Mana. I hope that you all help them out, and to those of you who will soon become their housemates, I expect you to help them out until they are well aqquainted with our school." He took his chair again.

"Haruno, Sakura."

Everyone's gaze zeroed in on the pink haired teen, who bravely approached the stool. McGonagall placed the hat on her head.

_Well, well. A ninja? Ignoring that we'll see where you should belong... plenty of courage and intelligence. Either Gryffindor or Ravenclaw would do for you... as such, it will be..._

"RAVENCLAW!"

Removing the hat, Sakura scuttled over to ther table that had erupted into clapping. Cho moved over so that she could sit down.

"Hyuga, Hinata."

The shy girl stepped up, a pink hue in her cheeks.

_Another one, eh? Let's see... this shouldn't be too hard..._

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Hurriedly, Hinata went over to her table and sat down, ducking her head slightly.

"Hyuga, Neji."

Many girls, and even a few guys, were oggling him as he stepped up to be sorted. Obviously there was an interest in them, they were pretty good looking.

_Now let's take a look here... mhmm... a genius, eh? Well then... courageous as well. I'd say it would be..._

"RAVENCLAW!"

Removing the hat, he walked calmly over to the Ravenclaw table, taking a seat beside Cho Chang, who blushed as he did.

"Nara, Shikamaru."

All eyes were now glued on Shikamaru, who had his hands in his pockets and was slouching forward a little. He muttered something as he took his turn at being sorted.

_Tsk, tsk. Don't like tests now do we? An IQ of 200? Well, then. It is..._

"RAVENCLAW!"

Shrugging as the hat was removed and he stood up, he walked over to the table and sat beside Neji, who had to move closer to Cho to accomodate him.

"Sabaku, Gaara."

The red-head stepped up. He cast a cool, don't-mess-with-me look around the hall before allowing the hat to be placed on his head.

_Now let's see about this one... kazekage, hm? Lots of courage... you've had a dark past, but you are moving away from it. It will be..._

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Apparently satisfied, he stalked away from the stool where he took a seat between Sean and Hermione, then returning his jade eyes to the front.

"Sabaku, Temari."

Several boys wolf-whistled as she took her turn at sorting.

Of course, no one in the vicinity of Gaara did, the aura and look he was giving off told anyone that he'd kill them if they dared.

_Eldest sibling of three? Well, there's wisdom there, I would venture to say. Hm? Ah, very well. Since you seem somewhat suited to that house..._

"RAVENCLAW!"

Temari smirked and headed over, squeezing in beside Shikamaru. The Ravenclaw boys gloated their victory.

"Uchiha, Sasuke."

All eyes were on Sasuke. Girls were drooling, mouths wide open, Sasuke was unaffected, he was used to these things happening to him.

_I'd say you have one of the most interesting minds yet. Dark past, you long for revenge and to restore your family to its former state... only two others left? Well, you seem overprotective of your cousin, even though she's older, and you long to kill your brother for what he did. It seems you are perfectly suited for Slytherin... ah, not there, eh? You're only the second person who has insisted on not being in that house... very well, then it'll be..._

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The Gryffindor table erupted into loud clapping and applause, just as the other houses had, several girls gave lovestruck sighs, guys glared jealously at the raven haired Uchiha.

"Uzumaki, Naruto."

Giving a large grin, Naruto punched the air, giving a loud, "Finally!" as he did so. Several girls giggled and then sighed. Harry heard someone comment, "He's so lively!" And then another replied with, "But look at him! He looks so handsome and mature..."

_Is there something hiding in your mind, boy? You seem almost desperate that I get this over with as quick as possible. Ah. That is it then, this demon you have within yourself? If so... _there was a flash of a book in Naruto's mind, _you might find that quite useful. But let's get this sorting done with, shall we?_

Ron glared at his watch for the fifth time, "It's been almost ten minutes! Why is that hat taking so long?"

Just as Ron finished his complaining, the hat proclaimed, "SLYTH-GRYFFINDOR!"

Naruto tugged the hat off and looked to McGonagall for an explanation, she pointed to the Gryffindor table. A huge grin broke across his face and he came over, rather fast. He shoved his way in beside Sasuke, "I thought that hat would never sort me!"

Dumbledore stood once more, the hall fell silent once again, "Thank you and welcome back! Now is not the time for speeches as I am sure we are all very hungry and it would not do for this wonderful feast to go to waste! But first! A few new staff appointments!" Dumbledore indicated Slughorn, "Professor Slughorn, an old collegue of mine has agreed to fill the position of Potions master!"

A few people applauded.

"And Professor Snape has agreed to fill the Defense Against the Dark Arts position!"

Silence.

Dumbledore smiled before continuing, "As many of you might have noticed, we have another new face among us today!" The young woman beside him gave a small smile, Dumbledore gestured for her to stand, which she did, "Professor Maerin Uchiha and Professor Kakashi Hatake have agreed to teach the students in the art of practical defense! Unfortuantly, Professor Hatake is not here at the moment, but should be here soon!"

The hall burst into applause, Maerin blushed and inclined her head before taking her seat once again.

"Now let us eat!" Dumbledore sat back down and flipped his beard over his shoulder. Food appeared on the plates in front of everyone.

Naruto commented to Sasuke, "It's just like Kakashi-sensei to be late."

Sasuke grunted before going back to his food. Hermione, who heard this, jumped on this piece of information, "You know Professor Hatake?"

Naruto shrugged, before saying, "He was our instructor back at our old school, he was always late."

"What about Professor Uchiha? Is she somehow related to Sasuke?" Hermione added.

Rubbing his chin thoughtfully, "Yeah, she's his cousin. She's older then him though."

"Oh."

* * *

God! I thought I would never finish this! Anyways, I have my thank you list for this time! Neji, tell everyone what they get! (goes to get some sleep) I've got to stop pulling all-nighters to finish my chapters... especially on school nights... (yawn)

Neji: (sigh) To all the reviewers of this story, your reviews keep Kat going. So cookies go out to:  
Chiaki Fujiwara  
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KunoichiruleALL (you get double cookies for reviewing twice!)  
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Neji: To those who added her story to their C2s, you get a plushie of your choice which will be brought to you by Sync later:  
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Neji: And to those who favorited this story you get a collectable tin with cookies:  
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Neji: Sync, you'd better get baking!

Sync: Start helping and this would go faster!

Kat: I love you all! Please keep it up! Your reviews and adding me to various lists keeps this story going! Signing off!


	6. Chapter 6: First Night

**A/N:** Oh yay! Thank you guys! MadnessLover, I'm very sorry, I was typing my thank yous up at 4 am… you get your cookies! Anyways, Dragonheart0000, I had some slight writer's block with that last chapter, and my computer decided to get all retarded on me and my life too. But I'll try and update more often! I just figured you guys would want longer chapters…

**Disclaimer:** Me no own, you no sue. Simple, ne? I do, however, own Maerin and any other OCs that appear (for the sake of the story). Oh, and the plot too…

* * *

**Chapter 6: First Night**

Sasuke stabbed moodily at his potatoes. Naruto seemed to understand why the guy was so upset, "Missing Sakura already?"

"Stay out of this baka."

Harry seemed a little more at ease with them now, "The girl with pink hair?"

Naruto gave him a huge grin and a look that told him he was going to tell him a big secret, "Yeah! Sasuke here's been dating Sakura for a while now!"

Internally, Hermione groaned. On the outside, she retained her calm demeanor, "Dating?"

Nodding vigorously, Naruto replied with, "Uh huh!"

"None of you go after my sister," Gaara ground out.

"Temari?" Harry asked levelly, he elbowed Ron hard in the stomach, jerking him away from starring dreamily at said person.

"…"

"Gaara here doesn't talk much. He's given death glares to everyone who's given Temari lovey eyes. Though he doesn't seem to mind Shikamaru that much," Naruto commented, jerking his thumb in the direction of the Ravenclaw table.

Anxious to learn more, Hermione asked, "And what about the others?"

"Neji's the one with the unbelievably long brown hair; Shikamaru's the lazy baka beside him. Then we've got Temari, who's obviously got a thing for Shikamaru," he paused, then, "Then we have Hinata, she can be so shy around people, but she's got a good heart. She's Neji's cousin.

"Finally ya got Sasuke here," he slapped the Uchiha heartily on the back, causing him to almost choke on his food. Sasuke shot Naruto a death glare, "He's got his problems, but he's a good guy overall. And I'm Naruto!" he pointed his thumb at his chest.

"The loud knuckle head," Sasuke added.

"Hey!" Naruto punched him playfully on the arm. "I ain't the knuckle head! You're the one who made Maerin-sensei so worried and angry!"

Sasuke was silent at that. Gaara watched the exchange with mild amusement.

Dinner continued with the uncomfortable silence. Once the dinner plates were cleared of food, Dumbledore once again stood for his speech.

"Once again we find ourselves brought together under the roof of Hogwarts," he cast his eyes about the hall. "I see many old faces, and many new ones. And I hope that by the end of this year we have all learned something new and are closer then we were at the beginning.

"As I have mentioned before, Professors Maerin Uchiha and Kakashi Hatake will be teaching practical-" the door of the hall slammed open.

Naruto whispered, "Late as usual."

A tall man stood at the entrance, he wore a strange outfit. A pair of baggy navy sweat pants, with bandages wrapped snuggly around his shins; and a navy sweatshirt, with an odd looking olive green vest. His hands were in his pockets, and he wore a facemask covering the lower half of his face, a headband with a strange symbol engraved on metal was pulled over his left eye. Wild, white hair completed the look.

He cast his eye around, and then gave what seemed to be a smile, you couldn't really tell because you couldn't see his mouth; took his hand out of his pocket, and tipped it in a wave, simply stating, "Yo."

The entire hall starred at him in confusion.

Naruto jumped out of his chair, "Kakashi-sensei, you're late! Later then usual."

Kakashi smiled at him, "I got a little lost on the way down."

Everyone sweat dropped.

Crossing his arms, Naruto sat back down, in a bit of a huff, "… stupid Kakashi-sensei."

Dumbledore beamed, spreading his arms wide, he intoned, "May I give you Professor Hatake, the other instructor of our practical defense course."

People applauded half-heartedly. The teacher was kind of _weird_.

"Professor Hatake is also joining us from the Japanese Imperial Institute of Mana, as well as Professor Uchiha," Kakashi reached the staff table, he stood beside Maerin's chair, an arm resting on the back, "Do either of you have something to add?

Maerin nodded and stood up, "Students, thank you for the warm welcome," she paused, "I would also like to say that it would be proper if you all came to class attired for physical activity." She took her seat again.

Dumbledore resumed, "Welcome. It will be noted the forest in the grounds is forbidden to all students. Secondly, the full list of items banned in the corridors is posted on the outside or Mr. Filch's office for those who wish to check. First years and newcomers, please follow your house's prefects to your common rooms."

There was a loud scraping as students filed out of their seats and poured out. Hermione waved over the first years while Ron turned his attention to Naruto, Sasuke, and Gaara.

"Follow me," Ron beckoned. "Harry you come to. You don't know the password!"

"Fine, fine."

Trailing behind the two wizards, Naruto commented, _"This place is so big! I think I'll get lost!"_

"_Then just follow those two," Sasuke_ commented dryly, he indicated Harry and Ron. Naruto glared at him.

"_And what about you? You're going to sneak off to see Sakura the first chance you get!"_ Naruto accused.

Gaara interrupted their argument with a flat, "We're there."

Ron spoke the password, "Chidori."

"_That'll be easy to remember. It's Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei's signature jutsu," _Naruto commented.

Harry, who had heard this, ventured, "What did you just say Naruto?"

Rubbing his head, "Eh, sorry Harry. I was just commenting on the password! I'm so used to speaking my native language that I might sometimes slip back into it! Eh heh, heh…"

"Oh, alright… think you could teach me?" Harry asked as they gathered in the common room.

"Maybe, it's harder then it looks."

"It's getting late," Gaara commented. "You can teach Harry later. For now, let's get some rest."

The troop filed up the stairs, splitting as they went. Gaara and Sasuke were in a different dormitory, but Naruto was in the same one as Harry and Ron.

Neville and Dean were already in there.

They greeted each other.

"Hey Harry," Naruto ventured.

"Yeah?"

"If I wrote out some words and their meanings on a piece of paper, do you think you could study from that?"

"Uh, yeah I'll try."

"What's Harry trying to learn?" Neville asked absently, placing his new plant on his night stand.

"Japanese," Naruto replied, that was his language's name in this world.

Neville starred at them like they were crazy, "That's going to be hard! I mean, they use different characters to write!"

"I'm just going to learn to speak it," Harry responded.

Naruto dug through his trunk, "Hmm… aha!" He pulled out two framed photographs. He placed them delicately on his nightstand, and then looked at them.

"What's that?" Harry asked, coming over.

Naruto continued to look at them, and replied, "Back home we were divided up into teams for our defense classes. Sakura, Sasuke, and I were on Team 7.

"We should be getting to bed now. I don't want Sasuke or Gaara snapped my head off because I'm grumpy from lack of sleep!"

The other boys agreed and they dressed in their pajamas and went to sleep.

* * *

Okay! Yes it's rushed. I'm leaving tomorrow, and I didn't want to leave you guys without an update, so I hurriedly wrote out this chapter and am publishing it! Anywho... I'm working on a one-shot, and I'm hoping that I can either finish it tonight and publish it, or publish it when I get back. I'm only going away for the weekend, today's Thursday, and I'll be back on Sunday night. So I hope you can all survive until then. 

Also, once this story is finished, I'm planning on finishing up as many as my others as I can. Then I'm going to start on some new ones. Alright? Sorry, no sequel unless I can finish at least **one** of my other stories...

Another sidenote, I want to thank you all for making this story my most popular! The high review count really made my day! I can't believe so many people love this story... thanks...

Sorry, no thank yous for this chapter. But I promise I'll thank you all properly in chapter seven! I'm going to try and get that one out as soon as I get back. And I'll email Kris the chapters from then on.

Thank you all!

Signing off.


	7. Chapter 7: First Impressions

**A/N:** It's really late, I know. I promised I'd get this one out earlier but a lot of things came up, and the writer's block hit me hard. I've been hanging out a lot more on some Live Journal communities and writing a whole load of one-shots and a few short multi-chap ones. I have a short multi-chap story that I'm going to publish soon. Sorry, no thank yous this chapter; they're getting out of hand. Sorry. You guys all get cookies and plushies though.

**Disclaimer: **Don't own it, so don't sue me. I only own Maerin and the plot, that's it.

* * *

**Chapter 7: First Impressions**

Harry was discovering quickly just how difficult it was to wake Naruto up. Eventually, he and Ron had given up and ran off to find someone to help; they found Gaara.

"Naruto's still asleep," Harry explained. "We've tried everything, but he won't wake up!"

Gaara rolled his eyes and lead the way into their dormitory. He looked around and picked up the almost full water pitcher. Promptly, he dumped it all over the still sleeping shinobi.

"GAH! That's cold!" Naruto leapt up, saying a few choice words in his native tongue before turning on the red-haired kazekage. "What the hell was that for?!"

Gaara merely crossed his arms and gave him an evil smirk, "You wouldn't wake up."

"But you didn't have to pour a whole pitcher of cold water over me!" The blonde shinobi got up in Gaara's face and proceeded to berate him. "And why you?! Why couldn't Sasuke or Sakura or Hinata?!"

"Sakura and Hinata are in different houses, and Sasuke had already gone down for breakfast."

"GRAAH!! I HATE YOU!!" Naruto ranted. Ron and Harry watched the entire exchange with confused expressions on their faces. Their eyes flicked from speaker to speaker. Eventually, Naruto calmed down; although he was still muttering darkly under his breath.

Gaara disappeared soon after, going down for breakfast, and left the two wizards with the irate shinobi. After a quick shower and a quick change into his robes, Naruto was ready.

The trio trotted down to the Great Hall where they were surprised to find that Hermione had saved them seats.

"I wonder what we have first..." she wondered."I mean, they still have to make our schedules up, which will be happening after we eat, but I would like to know what we have first."

Naruto commented off-handedly, "Kakashi-sensei's actually here..."

Hermione looked to him, "He showed up ten minutes after breakfast started. You three on the hand were twenty!" She glared at them.

Casting Naruto a dirty look, Ron ground out, "Naruto slept in and we couldn't wake him up, so we had to go find someone."

"Yeah, they asked Gaara and he dumped the entire water pitcher over me!"

Hermione had to laugh at that.

"It's not funny! That water was like ice!"

Once breakfast concluded, the sixth years remained behind as their heads of houses set them up with their timetables.

"We have Potions first period..." Ron complained. "At least Snape isn't teaching it this year, we might not fail."

"What's so bad about him?" Sakura asked. She was also in the Potions class, as well as Hinata, Neji, Shikamaru, and Temari.

"The guy has a grudge against all of the houses except Slytherin, which he's head of," Ron explained. "He's especially got it in for Gryffindor."

"Sounds like a real great person," Temari shot back sarcastically.

"The most wonderful person in the world," Harry responded just as sarcastically.

The group piled into the dungeon, they had to split up into table of four. Sakura, Hinata, Temari, and Shikamaru got a table to themselves, although Shikamaru seemed a little torn at abandoning Neji like that. But Temari had practically dragged him to their table and he was sandwiched in between her and Sakura; so he really wasn't given much of a choice in the matter of seating arrangements.

Neji shrugged and took a seat beside Hermione who seemed unsure what to think of the rather handsome shinobi. She mentally shook her head to clear her mind of those thoughts. She kept telling herself to concentrate on the lesson.

Both Ron and Harry were given old, ratty text books as they hadn't bought the required ones since they didn't think they'd be allowed to take the subject. She was thrilled that the shinobi had at least bought the textbooks.

Harry and Ron took their seats; Harry offered to switch places with Hermione as she seemed a little uncomfortable seating beside Neji; an offer which she accepted. It wasn't that she didn't like him, she just felt… a little out of place beside him.

On the other hand, Harry couldn't help but feel safe around the foreign students. Not to say that he didn't feel safe around Ron and Hermione; but he still always had this feeling of uneasiness. For the first time since his fourth year, Harry felt completely safe.

He felt he could trust these people.

Even still, something told him to be wary around them; but he dismissed that. Harry was tired; tired of having to suspect people, tired of having to constantly look over his shoulder, tired of having to constantly keep his guard up. He knew the latter was foolish thinking, but for once in his life, he wished he didn't have to sleep with his wand under his pillow, ready for an attack.

"… we will be making the Drought of Living Death. A tricky little potion, but if you follow all your instructions, you should have no problems."

Harry found that someone had scribbled all over the pages in his textbook. They'd scratched out part of the recipes and procedure, and replaced it with their own. At some places, he couldn't make out what the instructions were. Finally, he got fed up with it, and decided to at least _try_ the suggestions.

He was surprised that his potion immediately turned the correct color that Slughorn had told them it should. Hermione glared over at him from her place over on the other side of Ron, who also seemed totally surprised that his was already at that stage when his was a pale grey.

Neji, on the other hand, didn't seem surprised at all. In fact, his potion was also as far along as Harry's. Both of theirs started issuing the pale lavender smoke at about the same time as Shikamaru's, Sakura's a few seconds later, followed closely by Hermione.

"Well, I've never had so many students at once finish their potions so quickly and perfectly too!" Slughorn commented. "I'm not so sure how the new students managed to get so good, but it's obvious that Harry here has inherited his mother's knack for potion making!" He slapped Harry good-naturedly on the back.

Once class had ended, the group trotted back upstairs where they met up with Sasuke and Naruto, who had had a free period. Naruto was grumbling something about being bored. They headed down another hallway to reach their Charms class.

Flitwick started the class with a quick briefing, and then set them to work with reviewing their charm work.

Halfway into class, one of the new teachers, Maerin, slipped into the classroom. She hurriedly spoke to Flitwick, who smiled back and handed her several books. She bowed and left.

"I wonder why Professor Uchiha was in here…" Hermione wondered aloud. "Wouldn't she know her subject pretty thoroughly?"

Sasuke responded, "It's her business, isn't it?"

"Well I guess, but…"

"Why are we talking about Maerin-sensei?" Naruto asked, inserting himself into the conversation from his seat beside Ron.

"She was just in here," Hermione pointed out.

"Alright…" Naruto didn't seem too curious about it; he went back to his charms, as did the other shinobi. Hermione, in her never-ending quest for knowledge, tucked the incident and conversation into a far corner of her memory to examine at a later time.

Charms ended and the large group dumped their books in the dormitories before heading down for lunch. They were a little surprised when Ginny came up, looking exhausted and with a large bruise forming on her arm.

"Oi, Ginny what happened?" Ron asked his sister.

She gave a wane, tired smile, "Practical defense. My team got into a little fight; I tired to break it up and… well…"

"Team?"

"Yeah, Professor Hatake split us into three person teams for our class. He allowed us to form our own groups, but he split a few up; it's why I'm in a group with Liza Ethelbrook," Ginny explained. Ethelbrook was a Slytherin.

"They're making us work with Slytherins?!" Ron asked, completely shocked.

Ginny frowned, "He broke our group up because it was too large and Liza was on her own."

"I won't work with Slytherins!" Ron exclaimed, Harry nodded his agreement.

"Be careful about what you say Ronald," a new voice came. "Kakashi might hear you."

The group spun around to face the newcomer. It was Maerin Uchiha.

"I'm sorry we never had a proper introduction," she began, she held out her hand. "My name is Uchiha Maerin; I'm one of your new practical defense teachers."

* * *

Haha! Finished! This is chapter seven done and completed. I'd like to thank you all for your patience with me, I'm really sorry that this took so long to write and publish; my life's been real busy lately. Exams are coming up so I didn't have a lot of time to write, and I had a major case of writer's block (still do, actually).

This chapter didn't exactly come out the way I wanted it, but I needed some way to push through my writer's block, and this is the result. This probably is the first interaction Maerin has really had with the Hogwarts trio, and you guys don't know how it's going to turn out yet, but I'll get chapter eight out as soon as possible! Alright? No promises on when, I can't keep them. Got too much to do. Alright? But I have an evil plot bunny for this story, which I hope will make all you yaoi fans reading this happy!

Oh! If any of you like or are interested in Gundam SEED Destiny, I should have one of my many new projects up soon. So please, check it out if you're interested and drop me a review on it!

Thankees!


	8. Chapter 8: Professor Maerin Uchiha

**A/N:** Getting distracted again. was being retarded again so I couldn't see any of my lurvly reviews (thanks guys), and I got distracted by D. Gray Man. (sigh) It's amazing what your favorite pairings can do to you. Hopefully the writer's block is gone (with me I can never really tell), so I can get to work on this story and my _Memoirs_ one, which got two lovely reviews on it. Oh! And to clear up something, Maerin is **NOT** Sasuke's sister, she's his cousin.

**Disclaimer:** Only own plot and Maerin, I don't own anything else.

* * *

**Chapter 8: Professor Maerin Uchiha**

Harry took the proffered hand, "Harry Potter, these are my friends Ron Weasly and Hermione Granger."

Maerin smiled, "I do hope that you three enjoy practical defense." She gestured to the shinobi who were already seated, "They aren't causing any trouble, are they?"

"No," Hermione responded. "I mean, Sasuke, Gaara, and Naruto didn't have Potions with us, but they behaved well in Charms."

"Good, I don't want to have to _punish_ them on their first day in a new school," she glanced up to the teacher's table. "Well, I have to be going, Kakashi's waving at me; we have a lesson to plan for this afternoon."

She headed up to the staff table, taking a seat beside Kakashi, who whispered something in her ear, to which her cheeks took on a rosy hue.

Sasuke sighed as the wizard trio sat down, "He's hitting on her again…"

Grinning, Naruto put in, "At least Maerin-sensei is happy Sasuke! You weren't around before Kakashi-sensei actually managed to get her to open up; she wouldn't even talk before."

"She didn't?"

"Isn't she your cousin Sasuke?" Hermione asked. "What happened?"

The three shinobi exchanged looks, Gaara supplied, "Maerin was… kidnapped several years ago, and in that time Sasuke ran off. She managed to escape and return home only to find her only remaining family gone." There, the severely censored version of events.

Hanging his head, Sasuke nearly thwacked his face into his food had Naruto not grabbed his shoulder and jerked him back.

Harry, sensing how this was a sensitive topic, tried to change it, "What do we have after lunch?"

Everyone consulted their time tables, the collective response was Transfiguration.

Neji drifted over from the Ravenclaw table, "Do you guys know where the Transfiguration room is?"

Hermione supplied the response, "We have it next too, so we can all go up together."

Neji nodded then returned to the Ravenclaw table.

Everyone finished up their lunches before getting their books for their last class of the day from their dormitories. Naruto was asking Hermione numerous questions about Transfiguration, Sasuke standing just off to the side, looking like he wasn't listening, but he really was.

The group followed the Hogwarts trio to Transfiguration, collecting the rest of the shinobi as they went. The various sections of their group holding their own conversations, in different languages of course.

"_Sasuke and I scouted out the castle. You wouldn't believe how huge this place is! And there are all these secret passages and nooks and crannies…"_ Naruto was explaining to the only person who would really listen to his ramblings; that person being Hinata, who displayed a prominent blush. Gaara stood just a little behind her, listening to both the conversations, but looking rather disinterested in the entire thing.

Neji was trailing beside him, deep in thought, but listening to Naruto's conversation with Hinata. Just behind them, Sasuke and Shikamaru were discussing what Sasuke and Naruto had discovered in their exploration of the castle and its relativity to their mission, while Temari and Sakura were discussing the professors.

The group filed into Transfiguration classroom and spread out. Thinking that if there was an attack, in all its unlikelihood, that being spread out would enable to handle the threat more effectively.

Professor McGonagall swept into the room, looking as strict as ever, "Welcome class, and newcomers. Today we shall be reviewing vanishing, please come to the front of the class and retrieve a tea cup. Your assignment is to make it vanish."

Everyone collected a tea cup before returning to their seats. Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto up near the front; Temari, Shikamaru, and Hinata towards the middle; while Neji and Gaara were seated in the back. No one made any mention of the seating, but Hermione fidgeted at the unexpected placement of the first group of shinobi.

Ron and Harry experienced trouble with the assignment, and somehow Naruto managed to knock McGonagall's hat off her head when he messed the spell up. McGonagall gave him a firm lecture, and went too far as to show him _exactly_ how to cast the spell.

Meanwhile, Neji had already managed to make his cup vanish, and was watching with interest as Gaara tried to make his disappear as well. He seemed somewhat transparent, but Gaara seemed to be getting quite frustrated at the cup's stubbornness to not vanish.

"You know, it might be easier if you actually put a little more force into your voice when casting," Neji advised, allowing the slightest hint of a smirk to ghost across his face.

Gaara scowled, snapping back at the other shinobi, "Shut up."

"Alright, alright," Neji sighed. "Just try and concentrate on what you want the cup to do; glaring at it isn't going to do anything. You get angry too easily."

"And you aren't?" Gaara shot back.

"Oh, got me there."

Sakura looked to Naruto, the only one at their table who had not yet managed to make his cup vanish. She gave him a sympathetic smile, "Do you need any help Naruto?"

"Yes!" Naruto exclaimed to the pink haired teen. "Please help me!"

Smiling, Sakura started to help, "You need to pronounce the incantation right. It's more of an ay sound, not so much of an ah…"

Transfiguration ended without much more of incidence, and by the end of it, everyone had managed to disappear their cups.

* * *

Dinner was a little bit of a solitary affair. In the short time they'd known the shinobi; the Hogwarts trio had never seen them so quiet. In fact, they found it unnerving.

"I can't believe we have homework on the first day…" Ron was complaining, lightning the mood. "Two essays already?"

Hermione glared at the red head, and brandished her fork at him menacingly, "What did you expect? We're sixth years now! We have NEWTs next year, and we have to prepare for them!"

"Aww… you're not being very sympathetic about this Hermione…" Ron groaned.

"Quit complaining Ron," Harry snapped, tired of the constant bickering. "Hermione, quit telling Ron off."

Both starred at Harry with disbelief.

The messy haired teen stood up abruptly, "I'm going to go start my homework." He left the hall, garnering many strange looks as he did so.

Sasuke poked Naruto in the back several times, _"Follow him Naruto. We have to protect the students."_

"_Why don't you go?!"_

"_Because I asked you and he trusts you more."_ That was the end of the discussion. Naruto glared at the raven haired shinobi before leaving the Great Hall after Harry.

* * *

Alright! Finished another chapter and it's almost 4 in the morning! Woot! I am so an insomniac. I'm going to sleep now… nightie night. I'll start the next chapter tomorrow, when I'm a little more awake. Expect for next chapter a confrontation between Harry and Naruto! Dun dun dun! And some more clues as to what my mysterious yaoi pairing shall be! (evil laugh) Whoever shall guess it correctly will get a dedication in the next chapter! Also, whoever my hundredth reviewer is also gets a dedication when it happens!

God, I wanna hurry this fanfic along and get to the Christmas part! My evil little plot bunnies already have something worked out for it, and they are dying to get it out.

Also, I want to thank everyone who encouraged me to get over my writer's block. I'm trying my best here, so expect maybe a few more short chapters like this one before I get back into the swing of this fanfic.

Signing off!


	9. Chapter 9: A Little Heart to Heart

**A/N:** Alrightie… I decided to work on chapter nine as soon as I could. Which is right now, apparently. So let's get to it! (glares at the plot bunnies) They are being no help whatsoever. They look kinda starved, which is bad…

**Dedication:** I dedicate this chapter to dark-sky-night, she guessed correctly first; of course, several other guessed correctly, but I'm feeling lazy so I won't mention all of you, but you all get yourselves cookies! Oh no, it's not wishful thinking it shall be a reality! MWUHAHAHA!! Trust me; my sick and twisted mind does not lie when it comes to these things.

**Disclaimer:** Don't own it, so don't sue me! I only own Maerin and the plot (whatever that might be… I have no control over it…)

* * *

**Chapter 9: A Little Heart to Heart**

Naruto found it incredibly easy to track the young wizard; he might not be an expert at tracking, like Kiba and Akamaru, but following Harry was just too easy. It made him wonder whether all wizards were as lax about this kind of thing.

He followed Harry through the twisting corridors, keeping his distance, yet remaining close enough to follow him. Eventually, they entered the library. Harry settled into a secluded table hidden behind the many shelves; Naruto paused for a moment, but then followed, silently taking a seat beside the wizard.

"Hey Harry, you seem kinda on edge…" Naruto began; he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Is it something you'd like to talk about?"

"It's… it's just that I can't stand when they argue like that…" he ground out, slamming his fists onto the table; Naruto didn't wince, but his frown deepened. "They're always at each others throats! They can never go a day without arguing! It's just so GOD DAMN FRUSTRATING!"

Naruto leaned his chair back, "Well, maybe they like each other? I don't know, honestly, it's more like how me and Sasuke argue."

Harry shot Naruto a glare, but didn't answer the first question, "I noticed."

Grinning, Naruto continued, "Consider him and me friendly rivals. We used to fight over everything... but now, we mostly squabble over who's stronger."

Softening his glare, Harry elaborated, "Ever since Hermione first became friends with us, she and Ron have argued over the smallest things! It just gets on my nerves; some days I just want to smack them over the heads and tell them to quit it!"

"I'd pay to see that!" Naruto replied with a laugh, nearly toppling out of his chair. The vulture-like Mrs. Pinch came over and ordered the two raucous boys to leave the library. The pair grinned at each other before leaving the library.

"Back where we used to live, I used to pull all of these stupid pranks when I was little," Naruto was explaining. "Of course; it got me in trouble a lot of the time, but it was mostly a bid for attention."

"I hate attention," Harry replied. "People look at me funny, talk about me behind their backs... it gets annoying. Although, I am kinda happy that it's not like last year."

"Why what happened last year?" The two boys were meandering their way back to their common room, not noticing exactly where they were headed.

"No one believed me that Voldemort was back. Thought me and Dumbledore were raving mad because of it," Harry shuddered. "Then there was Umbridge... her detentions were awful." He held up his hand so the torchlight reflected off the words scarred there, _'I must not tell lies'_.

"Whoa... even my punishments back home weren't that bad..." Naruto's voice fell. "But the way everyone treated me seemed like punishment enough... they'd ignore me; treat me coldly. I was... I was an outcast."

Harry watched the normally upbeat and optimistic blonde's mood change, "Why? Did something happen?"

"I never knew my parents, you know. They died shortly after I was born..." Naruto whispered. "I've never known what happened to my mother... but my father he..." Naruto's voice trailed off. "It's because of his death that the people hated me so..."

"So you're an orphan?" Naruto nodded, Harry gave a sad smile, "Then we have something in common. My parents died protecting me from Voldemort..." he looked down. "It's because of a prophecy that was made before I was born."

Naruto looked up, surprised; they were standing in front of the Fat Lady.

"Password?"

"Hokage," Harry answered absently. The portrait swung open and the pair climbed in.

Dinner had only wrapped up a few minutes earlier, so the pair had the common room to themselves for a short time. Pulling out their Transfiguration homework, they settled down in the comfy armchairs closest to the fire and started to work.

Naruto was about halfway through a passage on Vanishing when the portrait slammed open, and the other Sasuke, Gaara, Ron, and Hermione arrived. Nodding at the two shinobi, Naruto returned to his work. He tuned out Ron and Hermione's apologies to Harry; who merely grunted as acknowledgment that he'd heard them.

It didn't take long for the common room to fill up with other students. Sasuke and Gaara had arranged themselves with their Transfiguration books on floor around the arm chairs, while Hermione had retreated to a table in the back. Ron had filled the last empty arm chair and was absently reading through his notes.

Harry and Naruto, who had started early, finished before the others. Naruto leaned over the arm of his chair to read Sasuke's essay over his shoulder. Sasuke shot a glare over his shoulder at the invasion, but said nothing.

"_You spelt vanishing wrong,"_ Naruto pointed out casually. Sasuke growled at him, but fixed the mistake anyways. Naruto grinned. _"How was dinner? Anything interesting happen?"_

"_That idiot Malfoy tried to ambush us on the third floor,"_ Sasuke commented, rolling up his parchment and gathering his books and notes, putting them back into his bag. _"We didn't hurt him permanently. Just messed with him a little?"_

"_Define 'messed'."_

"_You remember those pranks you used to pull? Remember that dye that would not come off?"_

"_Yeah..."_

"_Let's just say he's sporting a new look."_ A savage grin spread across Sasuke's face. Naruto cringed inwardly a little, but grinned on the outside.

"_Ha! I was right! You do have it in you to be a prankster!"_ He slapped Sasuke heartily on the back. The two wizards gave them strange looks.

"Care to clue us in mate?" Ron asked.

Naruto laughed, "It's nothing really! Sasuke was just telling me how that little ass Malfoy is sporting a whole new look!"

Harry raised an eyebrow, "Is it permanent?"

Sasuke stood up, his bag slung over his shoulder, "Let's just say it won't be going away anytime soon..." He left the group there to debate his meaning. Gaara followed him shortly afterwards. Ron gaped after them and at Naruto who was still grinning like an idiot.

"That bloke never ceases to amaze me..."

"Just stay off his bad side," Naruto advised. "He can be scary if he wants to."

"I believe you there..." Ron replied, Harry smiled before he gathered his things up to head upstairs for bed.

* * *

God. I started this chapter a LONG time ago. And umm... I still have writer's block. It won't go away and it's starting to tick me off. The writer's block seems to only be attached to this story and at this point in the story. My thinking is, if I can get beyond this part to where my ideas are, the writer's block will go away!

I apologize for the shortness. I'll try and write a longer chapter for next time, think of this chapter as a character building one. Once again, I'm sorry about the length... it's the writer's block.

Thanks you guys for all the reviews! And I apologize to my hundredth reviewer, next chapter will be dedicated to you, for now, however, I have some other things to work on. But I'll try and work on this story too.

Kat.


	10. Chapter 10: Practicalities

**A/N:** I have hopefully divested myself of the terrors of what is writer's block; but I am not about to make any promises on that. I was clearing out a few documents and such on my computer while talking to my friend Kate, who was trying to help me get my inspiration for this story. And since, well, let's just say once more I have been converted to another pairing... try and guess what that is. I dare ya.

**Disclaimer: **Don't own it, so don't sue me. I only own Maerin and the plot, that's it.

* * *

**Chapter 10: Practicalities**

With their first practical defense class in the afternoon, the Hogwarts trio discussed what they would be doing in the lesson. Sasuke listened in on their conversation, but didn't contribute to it. Naruto, on the other hand, immediately joined in when he arrived in the Great Hall for breakfast.

"Knowing Kakashi-sensei, it'll be teamwork," he was saying. "He'll probably team us up with someone he thinks we'll be able to work well with; or someone he thinks your cooperation could use improvement with."

Ron twitched, "So we might have to get cozy with the Slytherins?!"

Raising an eyebrow, Naruto looked over there, surprised that Malfoy had been able to get that dye out of his hair. He looked surprisingly subdued, tired even, "You know... I wouldn't judge them based on how they look. Maybe they're not all that bad."

Choking on his cereal, Harry had to pat him on the back, "What? Are you kidding mate?! They're Slytherins!"

"Now I think that's a little harsh; even Sasuke would agree?" He turned to Sasuke for back-up. Sasuke glared at him and said nothing; Naruto forcefully elbowed him in the gut, "Ne Sasuke! You agree right?"

"I don't get why you dragged me into this..."

"Cause! Do you agree with me or not?!" In a whisper, he added, _"I mean, if we can forgive Gaara; then I'm sure we can forgive him."_

_"Yeah... I guess."_

"Sooo... you do agree?"

"I just said I did..."

Ron was giving them a skeptical look, "You two sure that you're not supposed to be in Slytherin?"

"Ron!" Harry and Hermione exclaimed at once; the former smacking him over the head.

"Honestly Ron!" Hermione was reprimanding him now as they headed for Charms. "Maybe because I've been raised where such discrimination isn't prominent; but you could give them a chance!"

"They've had six years! Six years Mione!" Harry sighed as they started arguing once again, he dropped back to walk with Naruto and Sasuke, who were holding their own quiet discussion in Japanese. Harry knew a few words that Naruto had taught him; but the conversation was mostly lost to him. "And he's called you Mudblood since what? Second year?"

"Since when did this discussion focus on Malfoy Ron?"

"BECAUSE HE'S WHO WE'RE TALKING ABOUT!"

"Well, for your information Ron; I don't think that he's as bad as you make him out to be," Hermione said, miffed. "I think it's just a show for all those friends of his, and honestly, I don't think he really has any friends."

"And since when did you become so concerned about him?"

"Since he is in my Arithmancy class AND I happen to see him in the library a lot," she responded hotly. "And there, he is much more polite."

"Well then why don't you go with him? Ask to transfer into Slytherin!" Ron stormed off. Hermione sighed and joined Harry.

"Harry, I'm sorry about that," she apologized. "But I just think that if we're going to paired up with them in practical defense, that we should give them the benefit of the doubt. Besides," she looked down and turned a little pink, "He's not as bad as Ron seems to think. I get along fine with him in Arithmancy, and in the library he really is something of a gentleman."

Harry began to wonder whether or not Hermione had developed something of a crush on on Draco Malfoy; but he dismissed the idea.

* * *

Charms class passed in relative normalcy; with the exception being that Ron sat with Neville instead of Harry and Hermione, who were instead joined by Neji, who had apparently been kicked out of his seat by an irate Gaara who had not yet forgiven him for his cracks at him the day before in Transfiguration.

Hermione and Harry moved over to allow the shinobi to slide in beside them, before resuming their conversation from earlier. Harry wondered whether or not Neji was listening in; but found that he didn't really care. They spent the lesson debating who they'd be grouped with and what their teachers would be like.

Lunch found them anxious for their first lesson.

Ron still had not forgiven Hermione; and obviously thought that Harry agreed with her and had proceeded to give him the cold shoulder treatment as well. The large group of Gryffindors and Slytherins flooded out into the grounds, Maerin arrived in a cloud of smoke In front of them.

"Good afternoon class," she smiled widely at them. "Welcome to your first practical defense class! My name is Uchiha Maerin, and I am one of your instructors. You may call me Professor Uchiha or Maerin-sensei. Please follow me."

The class followed the young woman out onto the grounds and followed her to the lake. Here, she told them to sit down and took a seat on a nearby rock, still smiling.

One of the other students put their hand in the air, Maerin acknowledged them, "Yes?"

"Where's Professor Hatake?"

Maerin sighed, "Oh, he'll be here. Just late... as usual."

Several more minutes passed before Kakashi finally showed up in a cloud of smoke, hand raised in greeting, "Yo."

"You're late again Kakashi," Maerin reprimanded. "I told you; quit that! I can't start the lesson without you!"

"A black cat crossed-"

"Oh no! You are **NOT** using that excuse again!" Several students snickered as the obviously younger professor told off the other. "Now, we can start the lesson. Ten minutes behind schedule!"

Kakashi rubbed the back of his, ignoring the dirty look Maerin shot him, "Alright Maerin. I'll get started." He turned to face the students, hands in his pockets, smiling, "Welcome to your first day of practical defense. I am Hatake Kakashi, but you can call me Kakashi-sensei or Professor Hatake."

During his short speech, Maerin had returned to her perch on the rock and was peering down at the students; watching for any misbehavior.

"Now, for this class. There are no houses. I will award points based on how well you and your team mate work together." Hermione's hand shot up. "Yes Granger?"

"You said team mate, I heard we were working in teams of three... are we working in partners?"

His smile widened, "You will be divided into pairs." He pulled out a long roll of parchment, "Now, you will work with your partner in everything that this class has to offer, and perhaps other subjects as well if the professors approve of it."

"There will be no discussion of changing partners," Maerin added. "We have made up these teams after carefully observing you all in your everyday lives. These teams are made based upon helping you all to get over your differences and help strengthen interhouse unity."

"When I call your name, go sit beside your partner," Kakashi began. "Parkison Pansy and Neville Longbottom."

"Hermione Granger and Blaise Zabini."

"Ron Weasly and Milicent Bulstrode."

He continued to list names, and students paired off. Gryffindors paired off with Slytherins. Finally, Harry had his own name called.

"Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy."

Harry stood stiffly and took his seat beside the Slytherin, he did his best to keep his features blank.

"Potter."

"Malfoy."

"Just because I have to work with you doesn't mean I have to like you."

"Likewise."

* * *

Haha! I finished it! In one sitting. That's a first, even for me. So here it is; the tenth chapter and I'm hope that you're happy with it; it's longer then the last chapter. So please leave me lovely reviews. My dream is someday to be interviewed like this author on this site I found... but I'll just keep dreaming; it's only a dream after all.

Kat.


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